Note: Greetings from St. Andrew’s, Scotland. I’m writing this from player dining at the British Open… an event filled with people obsessing about temporary transactions when we’re created for so much more… a life of deep contentment, joy and confidence, independent of results and circumstances.
“Being loved gives you strength. Loving deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
10 Rules for Inner Strength
- An extraordinary life (and performance) comes from the direct pursuit of a transformed heart (your spirit/character), an undivided one that lives fully and loves greatly.
- Your heart, in coordination with your subconscious mind, is running your life; training it to love that which is most powerful and enduring improves every part of your life.
- Self-centeredness is the greatest obstacle in your life. It leads to comparison, self-consciousness, and fear. Over-analysis, over-thinking, and constant judgment (laying down a negative verdict) soon follow.
- You are not your mind. It is a part of you that you can’t always trust. It will have terrible thoughts and outright lies. Thus it needs to be trained.
- Fully present is even more empowering than fully confident. Confidence is great, but it can lead to carelessness. When you’re fully engaged in the moment, heart, mind and body, all things are possible.
- Your subconscious mind does not differentiate between what you feel and what’s real. This is why training your heart and mind is so important… so it has the freedom to imagine unknown beauties.
- Self-mastery is mastery of the ego. Mastery of the ego can be thought of in three attributes:
- unoffendable
- unembarrassable
- unirritatable.
- Your life unfolds according to what you believe about yourself and the world. It doesn’t matter if the world is round, if you believe it’s flat, you’ll never get close enough to the edge to find out. You live and respond to the world as YOU are, not as IT is.
- Gratitude, inner peace and inner strength are closely linked. All are by-products of a heart that loves greatly, and thus lives fully.
- The best possible life, one with deep contentment, joy and confidence, independent of results and circumstances, has one foot in suffering and one foot in joy. To share in the glory you must share in the suffering.
I’d love to hear which of these rules resonates most with you. Or perhaps you have one that you think should be in the Top 10? Let me know!
Love Jim
PS
I asked British Open golfer Scott Vincent “What’s the greatest thing that could happen to you today, professionally?” He said, “Move toward becoming the type of person I want to become.” This is the pursuit of a transformed heart.
PPS
Thank all of you who have been praying for my sister Naomi. She is hanging in there, but could really use your continued prayers. Thanks so much.